


Crude Stitching

by whiteraven1606



Series: Rebuilt in Patchwork [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Anxiety, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Iron Man 3 Spoilers, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-13
Updated: 2013-05-13
Packaged: 2017-12-11 17:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/801364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteraven1606/pseuds/whiteraven1606
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony offers to help Steve adjust to modern life. Bruce calls Pepper to ask a favor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crude Stitching

**Author's Note:**

> Steve's vocabulary would have a lot of words we now consider crude, not the proper term, or downright wrong. I think he'd not have any problem with people's skin color or social position given that he lead an integrated unit of soldiers in a time when strict segregation was the norm for the US and, other than not being able to talk to her, he didn't mind Peggy being in charge of his unit in Basic.
> 
> Pepper annoys me deeply. She is an awesome character, don't get me wrong. I just have a visceral reaction to some of her actions. I love her as a character, but I have this deep need for her to have someone point out that how she hands Tony isn't always peachy.

****

Steve knew it was a stupid thing to be upset about, but he couldn't help it. "Why does everything need a new name!"

Bruce was backing away as Tony frowned at Steve, who was waving his hand at the 'Iron Patriot' armor, which Steve knew full well housed Tony's friend, Rhodey.

Tony looked at the armor and back to Steve. "I like War Machine better too, but..."

Steve shook his head. "Right, no, sorry." He held his hand out to the armor. "Pleased to meet you."

The armor shook hands with him and Steve retreated before it opened up to let Tony's friend out.

****

Bruce watched Steve leave as he listened to the armor open up for Colonel Rhodes to get out. "That was about more than the name of a suit of armor."

Tony huffed. "His worldview is the 40's. I don't know why no one can remember that."

Rhodes frowned. "What do you mean?"

Tony smiled and hugged Rhodes before pulling away quickly. "Nothing. I'll go talk to the old man."

Bruce shrugged when Rhodes looked at him. "I thought Steve was adjusting pretty well, myself."

****

Tony almost walked away from Steve's door without knocking, but he didn't. He knocked and then knocked again. "Steve! I know you can _hear_ me!"

Steve's door opened and he stared at Tony with tear tracks down his cheeks. "Please go away."

"Nope." Tony tapped his fingertip against Steve's cheekbone. "Let me help."

"Help?" Steve hiccuped and backed away from his door. "You can't _fix_ me like I'm Dummy, Tony."

Tony flopped down on Steve's couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. "I know that. I'm not trying to fix you. You know what I needed, but didn't have until Bruce came back and I got to talk to him?"

Steve paced the length of the room. "No. What?"

"Someone to just listen." Tony clasped his hands behind his head. "We aren't great pals. I adored you until I figured out that Dad liked you more than me. Then, I hated you for a while. Now...now I see a guy. Just a guy, that's stuck in a time he didn't ask for, dealing with social shit, fighting, and unable to just go _home_."

Steve froze and clinched his fists. "I lost my home when I lost Bucky."

"Alright. Still the same thing. Can't go home. Can't go _back_." Tony put his feet down and leaned forward. "That's got to suck, Steve. Suck in this case means feel really bad."

Steve gave Tony a look. "I know what you meant, Tony."

Tony smiled. "Alright. So? Gonna talk?"

Steve sighed and sat down in the armchair. "People speak English, but I swear no one talks right. You know I can't say dame, or negro, or gay without upsetting someone because they don't work now." Steve clasped his hands over his knees. "It used to be nicer to say negro than black. Now it's the other way around."

"Screws you up, huh?"

"Yeah. I...forget sometimes. I spoke slang to someone and nearly started a fistfight one day." Steve frowned. "That's why I retreated to the gym and sort of stayed there."

"Would it help to have JARVIS running a babble-fish program for you?"

"A what program?"

"Translation program. English to English." Tony smiled. "Treat modern English like a whole new language."

Steve blinked. "That'd...be helpful. Tony, why are you talking to me instead of spending time with your friend?"

Tony bit his lip. "I don't want to steal his suit."

"What?"

Tony leaned back against the couch and crossed his arms over his chest. "The armor. I don't have any because I blew them all. I...want it so bad. I think...I think I'm addicted."

Steve leaned forward and touched Tony's knee with his fingertips. "Tony, I don't think you are addicted to the armors. To the feeling of safety you have when you are in one or near one, sure, but not the armors themselves."

Tony frowned. "Huh."

****

Bruce watched the Iron Patriot armor fly away. "He didn't stay long."

Tony shrugged and went back to his tablet. "He usually doesn't. He was just checking up on me because he's seen one of my panic things."

"Panic things." Bruce sat down across from Tony. "Tony, why didn't you have him meet the kids?"

Tony looked up sharply before frowning down at the tablet in his hands. "They would have loved him."

"Probably." Bruce cocked his head. "Are you worried what he'll say?"

Tony scratched his chin. "I haven't even told Pepper yet. I just..." Tony grimaced. "They are going to tell me it is my fault. Which, yeah, sure, one of them is totally my fault. We used protection, but you know how that's never a sure thing."

"Tony."

"Right, you don't want to hear about that part. See, my fault, which they sort of are, but I can't...I can't hear that right now. I'm barely..." Tony swallowed and looked up at the ceiling. "I _hate_ it here right now. Any little thing sets me off and it is getting worse the longer I stay. I can't go back to Malibu until the house is rebuilt."

Bruce took his glasses off and cleaned them on the hem of his shirt. "What if they don't say it is your fault?"

Tony laughed. "You've not been paying enough attention, Bruce. Pepper thinks everything is my fault."

Bruce frowned. "You can't put off telling her forever."

"I maybe could."

****

Bruce was surprised when Pepper picked up the video call right away. "Hello."

"Dr. Banner, hello. Is he putting you up to trying to cancel for him now?"

"Ah. No." Bruce frowned at her stern expression. "He doesn't know I'm calling."

Pepper's expression softened considerably. "What's he done now? Anything you need replaced we can do that. Just, please, don't leave. I know he can be an ass..."

"No, no." Bruce shook his head. "I'm not leaving. I just need to have you know something and I'm going to ask you to never, and I mean _never_ blame Tony for it. Don't imply, don't state, don't make him think in any way he is to blame."

Pepper blinked. "Okay. What am I not blaming Tony for?"

"Dr. Hansen had a son."

"Oh. Oh, God." Pepper's hand shot up to cover her mouth. "He..." She narrowed her eyes. "Tony thinks I'm going to blame him?"

Bruce nodded. "He nearly had a panic attack when he told me you and Rhodes would blame him for the kids."

"Wait. Kids, plural?"

"Killian injected the boy with Extremis to force his mother to do what he wanted. It had a side effect and there are two children now."

"Oh." Pepper rubbed her temple. "Alright, I might have yelled at him for two kids. Where are they?"

"Here." Bruce raised his eyebrows. "Tony has been binging on parenting books for the last three days."

"Really? He's...kid-phobic. He's terrified of having them anywhere near him."

"He's doing better with them than he is about not having a suit of armor."

Pepper frowned. "What?"

"He is having panic attacks often enough that Steve and I are talking about hauling him forcefully away from New York. We're trying to work out how to do it, because right now it would involve two kids, two robots, a Tony that's determined to beat his brain into submission by sheer force of will, and the rest of the Avengers coming along for the show."

"Why doesn't he just build another one? He never cared what I thought before, why would he care now?"

Bruce stared at her. "Tell me you are upset because you can't be here in person right now."

Pepper sighed deeply and rubbed her forehead. "I never liked the suits. The first time I saw one it had bullet holes in it and the robots had Tony in mid-air trying to remove it without hurting him. It went downhill from there. He nearly died because of the suit. More than once! Stane chased me in a crude, very huge, version of the suit. The Mark 42 _grabbed_ me away from Tony when I was trying to wake Tony from a nightmare. I just...I'm going to lose him to the armor."

"Pepper, ask yourself if you ever had him without the armor."

Pepper frowned and propped her head in her hand. "Tell him to call me. I'll convince him it's alright to make a new one."

"Thank you."

She shook her head. "Don't thank me. He's libel to blow himself up while he's testing it. You should watch the footage from the Mark 2 tests."

****

**Author's Note:**

> This series is leaning towards Bruce/Tony. I don't know yet that I'll actually have a pairing in this series.


End file.
